A WELL-KNOWN Clitheroe businessman who knew brothel madam Cynthia Payne for 32 years has described her as a “national treasure” after she passed away.

Mrs Payne, whose life was immortalised in film in Personal Services with Julie Walters in the 1980s, died at the age of 82, her family have confirmed.

Kevin Horkin attempted to go into business with her in the early 1990s but failed to get permission to open a wine bar in Accrington.

The pair first met after Mr Horkin asked her to appear on his TV debate show to talk about legalising brothels.

She appeared alongside future Labour minister Claire Short and judge James Pickles on the show, which was filmed in Mr Horkin’s home in Oswaldtwistle.

The former councillor and MP candidate said: “She was a person with a very big heart.

“She is someone who epitomised the phrase ‘what you saw is what you got’.

“She was a very complex woman but she would say what was in her heart and she had no filter.

“We went on around 20 holidays together and I invited her to Downing Street in 2004 where she met the prime minister and his wife.

“We go back a long way and she gave me power of attorney in later years.”

Mrs Payne hit the headlines when police raided her home during a sex party involving elderly men in 1978.

She served time in prison after a 1980 trial.

At a further trial in 1987, she was cleared of controlling prostitutes at her home in south west London.

Mr Horkin, who owns a string of businesses in Lancashire and Yorkshire, said: “In those days I used to write to anybody in the news to see if they would come on my show.

“It was quite an interesting debate and we were friends ever since.

“She was refreshingly honest and was a joy to be around.”

The 1987 comedy drama film Wish You Were Here was also loosely based on her story.

She claimed that vicars, MPs and lawyers were among her clients.

Mr Horkin added that Mrs Payne was an “extremely colourful archetypal English eccentric”.

She stood for parliament twice, but failed to win.